Highest-Paid Actresses 2011

Here’s a top10 list enumerating Charice’s career milestones, which readers may be interested in, but may not be aware of.

You just can’t keep a good talent down. Years before her successful debut on the second season of the US hit TV musical series “Glee”, singing sensation Charice was already wowing crowds and silencing critics who could not believe that a little girl could have such a big voice.

As Charice opens a new chapter in her life as a cast member of “Glee”, abs-cbnNEWS.com takes a look back at some of the defining moments in Charice’s career. The top 10 defining moments in Charice’s career:

1 - ‘Little Big Star’ Philippines (First Local Recognition)

It was in 2005 when Filipinos first heard the name Charice Pempengco when she joined ABS-CBN’s singing contest “Little Big Star.” Charice was eliminated after her first performance but was later called back as a wild card contestant. In the grand finals, she landed third behind Gian Barbarona and champ Sam Concepcion.

2 - ‘Star King’ South Korea (First International Recognition)

Two years after making her mark on “Little Big Star”, Charice got a boost of sorts through an unexpected source. Dave Dueñas or Falsevoice decided to upload videos of some of Charice’s performances on YouTube. The videos received over 13 million hits, making her a YouTube singing sensation.
All that Web buzz caught the attention of the people behind the Korean talent show “Star King”. They then invited her to perform live on their show. Charice performed the “Dreamgirls” hit song “And I’m Telling You” on “Star King”, wowing the audience that included Korean boy band Super Junior.

3 - Ellen Degeneres Warner Bros. (First appearance on US TV)

Almost two months after her “Star King” guesting, popular US TV host Ellen Degeneres extended an on-air invitation to Charice to come to sing in her show after seeing her YouTube videos.
In December 2007, Charice flew to the US with her mother, Racquel Pempengco, and performed Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” and the “Dreamgirls’” hit “And I’m Telling You” in front of an appreciative studio audience. Charice got an iPod from Ellen and something bigger, her first taste of fame before a US audience.

4 - Oprah Winfrey Show (The Real Life Fairy-Godmother)

After appearing on Degeneres’s show, Charice was invited by entertainment icon Oprah Winfrey to perform on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” for its May 12, 2008 episode titled “World’s Smartest Kids.”
In the episode, Charice wowed Winfrey and the audience by performing Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing.” After that episode, Winfrey contacted her good friend, international musician-producer David Foster, to see if he could help Charice get started on a recording career.
Charice’s first meeting with Winfrey cemented her claim to fame especially after the latter dubbed her as “the most talented girl in the world.”
In June 2010, Winfrey became the real life godmother of Charice when the teener was baptized as a Catholic.

5 - David Foster Las Vegas (The Mentor)

Charice joined the benefit concert “Hitman: David Foster and Friends” at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas on May 23, 2008. If not for Foster, Charice would not have had the chance to meet international artists like Andrea Boccelli and Josh Groban.
In a previous interview, Charice said she considers Foster as her second father.

6 - Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli Italy (The Concerts)

World-renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli invited Charice to his hometown in Tuscany, Italy to perform. Charice dazzled thousands of Italians during the birthday concert of Bocelli at the Theater of Silence of Lajatico in Tuscany on July 20, 2008.
Charice also earned praise from international star Josh Groban. Groban said Charice has one of the most beautiful voices he has ever heard. Charice and Groban are regular performers or “David Foster and Friends” shows since they met on Foster’s May 23, 2008 concert.

7 - Celine Dion New York (The Remarkable Duet)

Charice’s second guesting on Oprah’s show was especially memorable. In that episode, Charice wept after her idol, Celine Dion, personally invited her to be part of her concert in New York.
On September 15, 2009, Charice performed with Dion at the latter’s concert in Madison Square Garden. People praised Dion for letting Charice shine as they performed Dion’s No. 1 single “Because You Loved Me.” Charice’s performance drew raves from some New York dailies.

8 - ‘The Paul O’Grady Show’ (UK) and ‘Good Morning America’ (US) (TV Appearances)


Charice boosted her international career when she appeared on various international TV programs like UK’s hit TV show “The Paul O’Grady Show” on April 8, 2008. For the first time in the history of the show, the audience gave a standing ovation to a visiting singer. “The Paul O’Grady Show” is a daily one-hour show broadcast every afternoon in the United Kingdom to showcase world-class talents and world record breakers.
In November 2008, Charice performed on America’s top-rating morning show “Good Morning America.” She appeared on the show to promote David Foster’s new CD-DVD “Hitman: David Foster & Friends.” Charice is one of several performers featured in the album, along with music icons Kenny G, Michael Buble, Josh Groban, Brian McKnight, Katharine McPhee, Andrea Bocelli and Dion.

9 - ‘Alvin and The Chipmunks’ 20th Century Fox (First International Cameo Role)

Hollywood comes a calling. Charice played a bit role in “Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” adding the film role to her list of accomplishments.
In the movie, Charice plays one of the chipmunks’ rivals in a talent competition. The songstress sang Alicia Keys’ “No One” in the film distributed by 20th Century Fox.
In a previous interview, Charice said the casting crew was impressed by her ability to modulate her voice to mimic that of a chipmunk. Reports also said that the director saw her performance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and was blown away by her voice.

10 - ‘Note to God’ (Launch at Oprah), ‘Pyramid’ (The Hits)


Charice proved she’s not just good at singing other people’s songs. Her first international single “Note To God”, written by Dianne Warren and produced by Foster, debuted on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in May 2009.
On May 11, 2010, a day after turning 18, she promoted the album’s second single “Pyramid” also on the same show.

• Reference/Source: tipakan.com by Ismael J. Castillo [Sep 30, 2010]

The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index defines corruption as the abuse of public office for private gain, and measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country's public officials and politicians.

Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties.

Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and human trafficking, it is not restricted to these activities.

Here is the ranking of 10 Most Corrupt Nations in 2010 according to Transparency.org:

1 - Somalia

Corruption Score: 1.1

2 - Myanmar

Corruption Score: 1.4

3 - Afghanistan

Corruption Score: 1.4

4 - Iraq

Corruption Score: 1.5

5 - Uzbekistan

Corruption Score: 1.6

6 - Turkmenistan

Corruption Score: 1.6

7 - Sudan

Corruption Score: 1.6

8 - Chad

Corruption Score: 1.7

9 - Burundi

Corruption Score: 1.8

10 - Equatorial Guinea

Corruption Score: 1.9

Notable among decliners over the past year are some of the countries most affected by a financial crisis precipitated by transparency and integrity deficits. Among those improving in the past year, the general absence of OECD states underlines the fact that all nations need to bolster their good governance mechanisms.

The message is clear: across the globe, transparency and accountability are critical to restoring trust and turning back the tide of corruption. Without them, global policy solutions to many global crises are at risk.

• Reference/Source: transparency.org
• Reference/Source: Wikipedia.org

From Amazon and Google to Craigslist and Wikipedia, here are the sites that we keep bookmarked year after year according to time.com of 2007.

BBC.co.uk

BBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize. The BBC has had an online presence supporting its TV and radio programmes and web-only initiatives since 1994 but did not launch officially until December 1997, following government approval to fund it by TV licence fee revenue as a service in its own right. Throughout its short history, the online plans of the BBC have been subject to various public consultations and government reviews illustrating concerns from commercial rivals that its large presence and public funding distorts the UK market.
The website has gone through several branding changes since it was launched. Originally named BBC Online, it was then rebranded as BBCi (which itself was the brand name for interactive TV services) before being named bbc.co.uk. It was then branded BBC Online again in 2008. The Web-based service of the BBC is one of the world's largest and most visited websites (thirty-ninth most visited according to Alexa in April 2011). As of 2007, it contained over two million pages.
On 26 February 2010 The Times claimed that Mark Thompson, Director General of the BBC, proposed that the BBC's web output should be cut by 50%, with online staff numbers and budgets reduced by 25% in a bid to scale back BBC operations and allow commercial rivals more room. On 2 March 2010, the BBC reported that it will cut its website spending by 25% and close BBC 6 Music and Asian Network. On 24 January 2011, the confirmed cuts of 25% were announced leaving a £34 million shortfall. This resulted in the closure of several sites such as BBC Switch, BBC Blast, 6-0-6 and h2g2.

Citysearch.com

Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local city guides will find contact information, maps, driving directions, editorial, and user reviews for the businesses listed. Citysearch is headquartered in West Hollywood, California and is an owned and operated web site of CityGrid Media, which is an operating business of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI).

Craigslist.org

Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements – with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.

Del.icio.us

Delicious (formerly del.icio.us, pronounced "delicious") is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005, then sold to Chad Hurley and Steve Chen on April 27, 2011. By the end of 2008, the service claimed more than 5.3 million users and 180 million unique bookmarked URLs. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Digg.com

Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems. The website traffic ranked 135th by Alexa.com as of March 16, 2011. Quantcast estimates Digg's monthly U.S. unique visits at 8.5 million.

Ebay.com

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is an American Internet (Consumer-to-consumer) company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. Founded in 1995, eBay is one of the notable success stories of the dot-com bubble; it is now a multi-billion dollar business with operations localized in over thirty countries. eBay expanded from its original "set-time" auction format to include "Buy It Now" standard shopping; shopping by UPC, ISBN, or other kind of SKU (via Half.com); online classified advertisements (via Kijiji or eBay Classifieds); online event ticket trading (via StubHub); online money transfers (via PayPal) and other services.

ESPN.com

ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN and a division of ESPN Inc. Since launching in 1995 as ESPNet.SportsZone.com, the website has developed numerous sections including: Page 2, SportsNation, ESPN 3.com, ESPN Motion, My ESPN, ESPN Sports Travel, ESPN Video Games, ESPN Insider, ESPN.com's Fanboard, ESPN Fantasy Sports, ESPNU.com, and ESPN Search. ESPN.com also has partnerships with MLB.tv, NBA.com, WNBA.com, NHL.com, Baseball America, Golf Digest, Scouts Inc., Jayski.com, USGA.org, Sherdog.com and Masters.org.
It also has sections devoted to certain sports including: the NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA, NASCAR, IRL, College, Golf and Soccer. Each section contains pages devoted to: scores, teams, schedules, standings, players, transactions, news wires, injures and columnists pages.
ESPN.com's primary competitors are FoxSports.com, CBSSports.com, NBCSports.com, SI.com and SportingNews.com.
Some notable ESPN.com columnists are John Buccigross, Chris Mortensen, John Clayton, Adam Schefter, Andy Katz, Bill Simmons, Len Pasquarelli, Jayson Stark, Buster Olney, Gene Wojciechowski, Scoop Jackson, Pat Forde, Jim Caple, and Michael Smith.

Facebook.com

Facebook (stylized facebook) is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. As of January 2011, Facebook has more than 600 million active users. Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics. The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the United States to help students get to know each other better. Facebook allows anyone who declares themselves to be at least 13 years old to become a registered user of the website.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities before opening to high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over.
A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace. Entertainment Weekly included the site on its end-of-the-decade "best-of" list, saying, "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?" Quantcast estimates Facebook has 135.1 million monthly unique U.S. visitors in October 2010 According to Social Media Today, in April 2010 an estimated 41.6% of the U.S. population had a Facebook account.

FactCheck.org

FactCheck.org is a non-partisan, nonprofit website that describes itself as a "'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation.
Most of its content consists of rebuttals to what it considers inaccurate, misleading, or false claims by politicians. FactCheck has also targeted misleading claims from various partisan groups.
Besides maintaining a website, FactCheck.org distributes audio stories by podcast and iTunes Radio.

Flickr.com

Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community created by Ludicorp and later acquired by Yahoo!. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media. In September 2010, it reported that it was hosting more than 5 billion images. For mobile users, Flickr has an official app for iPhone, BlackBerry and for Windows Phone 7, but not for other mobile devices. Several third party apps offer alternatives such as flickr hd for the iPad.

Check out the other 11-25 website you can't live without at time.com. Thanks for reading!

• Reference/Source: time.com
• Reference/Source: Wikipedia

The United States has finally inflicted a solid wound to their numero uno enemy, the Al-Qaeda. In a night-raid carried out at a location barely a few kilometers away from the Pakistani capital Islamabad, Osama bin Laden was killed in a dramatic CIA-led operation which involved extensive use of helicopters and ground troops.
The most dreaded terrorist in the world until now, Bin Laden gained attention in September of 2001, when the attacks on the United States left as many as 3,000 people dead and several hundred injured. It was only a matter of time and the man had become one of the most hated and feared men in the world.
After Bin Laden's death, US President Obama told the world “Justice has been done”.
However, even after Osama's death, terrorism continues to remain a major threat to the people across the globe. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) rolled out a list of most wanted terrorists in late 2001 which has been constantly updated since then. Here's a brief description of ten of most wanted terrorists out of that list which features at least 30 names.
The list also contains the name of Osama Bin Laden, who is now dead.

Usama Bin Laden
Apart from the 9/11 attacks, the Saudi-born dissident was also wanted in connection with August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. The Al-Qaeda leader was also a suspect in various other terror attacks throughout the world.
Bin Laden was a southpaw who walked with a cane. After 9/11 attacks the United States launched several operations to track the man. But they were not to taste success until 10 years. He had a reward of about $27 million dollars on his head and operated under eight alias names.

Adam Yahiye Gadhan
Born as Adam Pearlman in California, US, he converted to Islam in his teens. He is reported to be the cultural interpreter, spokesperson, and media advisor for the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. He has been indicted of treason and material support to Al-Qaeda and is said to be involved in numerous terrorist activities.
Gadahn has scars on his chest and right forearm and operates under eight aliases. The Rewards for Justice Program, United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to a million dollars for information leading to the arrest of Gadahn.

Daniel Andreas San Diego
He is wanted for his alleged involvement in the bombing of two office buildings in San Francisco. A vegan, he is known to be linked to animal rights extremist groups. The man wears glasses, is adept at sailing and is always expected to be armed.
He is reported to have at least three tattoos on his bodies. He has three alias names as well. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of San Diego.

Ayman Al-Zawahiri

Currently the leader of Al-Qaeda, he is reportedly a qualified surgeon who has a deep and radical understanding of Islamic theology and Islamic history. Al-Zawahiri has been indicted for his alleged role in the August 7, 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya. Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), the group he founded merged with Al-Qaeda in 1998 under his leadership.
Operating under 12 alias names, Al-Zawahiri can speak Arabic, English and French. The Rewards for Justice Program, United States Department of State, has offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or the conviction of Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

Fahd Mohammed Ahmed Al-Quso
The man is wanted by the FBI, the Interpol and the US Department of State. He has been indicted in the Southern District of New York for his role in the October 12, 2000, bombing of the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen in which 17 Americal sailors lost their lives.
Al-Quso is believed to be hiding in the mountains of Yemen. He operates under nine aliases. The Rewards For Justice Program, United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction, in any country, of Fahd Mohammed Ahmed Al-Quso.

Abdul Rehman Yasin

Born in Bloomington, Indiana, US, Yasin is of Iraqi heritage. He is wanted for his alleged participation in the terrorist bombing of the World Trade Centre, New York City in February of 1993. The bombing led to six deaths, wounding of several individuals, and intense damage to property. He is believed to be held as a prisoner in Iraq since 1994.
FBI reports that Yasin epileptic. He is believed to have a chemical burn scar on his right thigh and operates under at least four alias names. The US Department of State has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of Yasin.

Husayn Muhammad Al-Umari

He has been indicted for his alleged role in the August 11, 1982 bombing of Pan Am Flight 830, while it was en route from Japan to Hawaii. A mechanic and explosives expert, he formed an organisation in 1979 whose mission was to promote the Palestinian cause through violence towards the supporters of Israel.
A holder of Lebanese passport, Al-Umari has three alias names. He has a scar on the fingers of his right and one on his left hand in the web between the thumb and the index finger. A reward of up to $5 million is being offered by United States Department of State for information about Al-Umari.

Anas Al-Liby

Born in Tripoli, Libya, Al-Liby is under indictment in the United States for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings. He has worked as a computer specialist for Al-Qaeda. He recently lived in the United Kingdom where he was granted political asylum.
Al-Liby has a scar on the left side of his face and operates under at least four alias names. The reward on him offered by the United States Department of State is about $5 million.

Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz Al-Turki

Born in Iraq, Al-Turki faced indictment for his alleged role in September 5, 1986 hijacking of Pan American World Airways Flight 73 during a stop in Karachi, Pakistan. 20 passengers and crew members were killed in the attack.
The man is a heavy smoker and is believed to be residing in a Middle Eastern country. He has five alias names and there is a reward of up to $5 million on offer for information related to him.

Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Mughassil

This man is wanted by the United States government for his alleged involvement in the June 25, 1996 attack on Khobar Towers military housing complex near Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The attacks claimed the life of 19 US Air Force personnels and one local.
Al-Mughassil has been identified as the head of military wing of the Pro-Iran Saudi Hizbullah. He has just one alias name and the US Department of State has offered a reward of up to $5 million dollars for him.

• Reference/Source: allvoices.com by soniyaa of Dimāpur, Nagaland, India

Here’s the list of the top ten examinees in the March 2011 Board Exam for Medical Technologists.

1. JOSE LOUIE DELA CERNA REMOTIGUE – SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY – 89.6

2. RAYNA KARIYA ABENDAN – CEBU DOCTORS UNIVERSITY – 87.80

3. PAUL ROTHWEL CONDINO DE JESUS – ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES – 87.50

4. CLINT EDEL BORINAGA FRIAS – OUR LADY OF FATIMA UNIVERSITY-VALENZUELA – 86.70

5. LITO JAY GUTIERREZ DUMAYAS - CENTRO ESCOLAR UNIVERSITY-MANILA - 86.60

6. TERRENCE EDWARD CHUA LEE - SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY - 86.50

7. JOHN MARK DENIEGA TUTING - ADVENTIST UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES - 86.30

8. JOSEPH REUEL BILLETE CRUZ - CENTRO ESCOLAR UNIVERSITY-MANILA - 86.20

9. JENNIFER AUBREY LOTEYRO MOLINA - ST. SCHOLASTICA'S COLLEGE-TACLOBAN - 86.10
MA CECILIA VANESSA MANLANGIT SERRANO - CENTRO ESCOLAR UNIVERSITY-MANILA - 86.10

10. JENES PAYO MANCHING - ST. SCHOLASTICA'S COLLEGE-TACLOBAN - 85.70

• Reference/Source: board-exam-result-ph.blogspot.com (March 28, 2011)

The dust has settled at Cowboys Stadium and the Green Bay Packers are taking the Lombardi Trophy home. But now that the game is over, it's time to talk about the ads! We've selected our favorites and now you can vote for the one you thought was the best.
We've narrowed down our list of Super Bowl commercials to the ones you'll see below. So sit back, crack open another beer, and let us know which one you liked best by voting in our poll on the next page. The voting is only open until Friday, so vote now!

• Reference/Source: spike.com by dhammond

Social media is a big subject. If you’re looking for some reliable places to go for the best tips and social media tactics, look no further!

Our second-annual contest generated more than 300 nominations. Our panel of social media experts carefully reviewed the nominees and finalists, analyzing the quality of their content, the frequency of posts and reader involvement (among other things).

The following are the winners of Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social Media Blogs for 2011.

If you’re looking to master all that social media has to offer, these rich blogs need to be at the top of your reading list.

1. Brian Solis: The grand master of social media, Brian is one of the web’s leading social media evangelists and his blog is required reading for businesses.

TopRank: This popular blog, the brainchild of Lee Odden, provides exceptional social media advice and should be one of your daily destinations.

Convince & Convert: Jay Baer’s Convince & Convert provides outstanding content for businesses seeking to embrace social media. This is the second year Jay has made our list.

Six Pixels of Separation: Mitch Joel offers consistent and thought-provoking content delivered with personality.

Social Media Explorer: This blog, from Jason Falls, provides excellent perspective on the current state of social media and should be a regular stop for serious social media marketers. This is the second year Jason has made our list.

Brand Builder: For businesses looking to dive deep into social media discussion, check out Olivier Blanchard’s rich insights. This is the second year Olivier has made our list.

Spin Sucks: Gini Dietrich’s blog takes a look at social media from a PR perspective. Check her site out!

Danny Brown: Danny Brown’s blog examines the human side of social media with rich content and insights.

The Anti-Social Media: For something completely unique, check out Jay Dolan’s satirical blog on the state of social media.

BrandSavant: This unique blog from Tom Webster combines a great intellect with with common sense, giving it an edge.

Congratulations to the winners. Be sure to check out these amazing blogs!

• Reference/Source: socialmediaexaminer.com By Michael Stelzner

Source: telegraph.co.uk | It is now two weeks since an international inquiry blamed North Korea for the sinking of the South Korean warship ROKS Cheonan with the loss of 46 lives.
An international team, comprising experts from South Korea, the US, Britain, Australia and Sweden produced parts of the tail section of a torpedo that matched captured blue prints of a CHT-02D torpedo being offered for export by Pyongyang.

The report concluded: "The evidence points overwhelmingly to the conclusion that the torpedo was fired by a North Korean submarine There is no other plausible explanation." However not everyone is convinced, including Russia and China, who say they want to review the evidence before they accept the findings.

In the interim, the web has spawned a host of theories to support North Korea's contention that the enquiry evidence was a "complete fabrication" aimed at further America's hegemonic agenda in the Asia-Pacific.

In no particular order, the top ten theories and unanswered questions on the sinking of the Cheonan are:

1. The torpedo parts found on the seabed matched those of a captured North Korean torpedo taken by South Korea seven years ago. In which case, the Cheonan was most likely sunk by a North Korean torpedo, but fired from a South Korean sub.

2. A team of US Navy Seals who had recently been involved in the joint US-South Korean Foal Eagle anti-submarine exercises, sunk the Cheonan using a magnetic 'rising mine' deployed on the sea bed. Another 'report' says it was a limpet mine. A third a US torpedo fired by accident. (see 3 below)

3. The US carried out the sinking (see 2 above) as a pretext to scare the Japanese into allowing them to keep their controversial military base on Okinawa which America says is essential for deploying marines to secure North Korean nuclear facilities in the event of war. Two weeks after the enquiry Japan duly caved in to US pressure on the issue. Draw your own conclusions.

4. The recovered sections of the torpedo which the inquiry said were dredged from the seabed where the Cheonan sunk were covered in barnacles and looked like it had been under water for months, if not years. Further evidence that the torpedo parts were a plant?

5. The tail section of the torpedo also contained a marking saying 'number one' in a North Korea script – the so-called 'smoking gun'. Isn't this just far too convenient to be true?

6. Immediately after the incident US and South Korea defence officials unanimously agreed the sinking was "an accident" and that no unusual North Korean ship, submarine or troop movements had been detected. Survivors from the Cheonan were also reported to have said their sonar and radar consoles had picked up no unusual activity before the sinking. But within a few weeks the officials had all changed their tune. Is it really plausible they could have been so wrong? Or did they agree to a US cover-up operation? (See 3 above)

7. The Cheonan was sunk in a friendly fire incident/accident/North Koean attack (take pick) which also sank a 6,000-tonne LA-class US submarine, the USS Colombia. This explains why a South Korean naval diver killed during the salvage operation was working a long way from the site of the sunken Cheonan – the so called 'third buoy' theory. (This theory, circulating in early May, took a direct hit when the Columbia showed up at its home port of Hawaii a few days later)

8. The Gulf of Tonkin theory. The US has form for this kind of "fabricated" naval incident (see 2 and 3 above) say theorists, referring back to the second Tonkin Gulf incident in which the US is alleged to have faked a naval clash with the North Vietnamese navy. This disputed action was the pretext for securing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that gave Lydon Johnson the legal cover he needed to launch a full-scale Vietnam War.

9. If the regime of Kim Jong-il did order the sinking of the Cheonan, perhaps to bolster his reputation with a near-starving populace, why hasn't he been crowing about it in public instead of issuing denials?

10. The entire episode is totally implausible. How likely is it that a clunky North Korean submarine was able to penetrate South Korea and US defences, evading all detection and then launching a successful torpedo attack before escaping, again undetected, back to base? Not very likely at all, say the conspirators.

Further reading (Advice: some of these best taken with large pinch of salt)